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Diplomatic relations...
2008-04-25 13:41:00
I'm beginning to think that maybe I've watched one too many old movies. How else to explain the fact that I took one look at this dress and thought "hey, it's a feminine take on the clichéd red sash so beloved by the 'foreign diplomat' character"...kind of like the one worn by Mayor Cheese in Pufnstuf?Yep, I need to get out more...
More About: Relations

Out of Africa?
2008-04-24 13:49:00
There's something about the image on this t-shirt by San Francisco based illustrator, Hannah Stouffer, for Blood Is The New Black that makes me think 'summer'. Okay, maybe my initial thoughts were more of the '1970's safari' variety but what says summer more than that?
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Coo! Part two...
2008-04-23 13:47:00
Hot on the heels (or would that be beak?) of the pigeon ring necklace comes...the perspex pigeon light. I was originally thinking that this would make a great gift as a night light for a child's bedroom but, after some thought, I realized that it could cause more nightmares than it would stop..."Mommy, there's a glowing pink pigeon in the corner of my room...I'm scared".
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“Lust is the craving for salt of a man who is dying of thirst” - Freder
2008-04-22 13:30:00
Today's musing on the question of "what is sexy?" was prompted by the cover of the May issue of Paris Vogue. In fact, so overwhelming was the impact of Julianne Moore's crotch that it completely made me forget my usual complaint regarding fashion magazines putting actresses on their covers instead of models.This isn't an age issue...at 48 Moore looks better than many women half her age...and, anyway, I truly believe that allure is not related to age...but I find this pose very off-putting. But maybe it's just me, what do you think? Do you look at this and see "strong and sexy"...or "high-fashion men's magazine"?
More About: Dying , Salt

The unkindest cut of all...or not?
2008-04-21 13:01:00
According to conventional wisdom the one thing that you should not attempt...beauty-wise...is to cut your own hair. It's up there on the chart, next to the dark area of the map that say "Beware of ye hippogriffs".Of course, "conventional wisdom" has tried to tell me many things in the past...and failed...so it's probably no surprise that, for the last six or seven months, I have been forgoing visits to my hairstylist and cutting my locks myself. And, as I've got this far into the experiment without anyone asking "what's wrong with your hair?", I can assume one of two things...1) even going to a hairdresser, my natural inclination is for the unkempt, tousled, 60's-French-girl-if-you-squint look so...no matter how bad the cutting...no one can tell any differenceOR2) after years of squirming miserably in various chairs while the stylist ignored my ideas on what I was hoping my hair would look like I have finally hit upon a scheme which gives me "artistic control"...the rationale...

Oh, Mr. Postman…
2008-02-11 19:39:00
Letter From London. Think of it as a London Fashion Week freebie for those of us not actually attending LFW...semi-close your eyes, squint, and you’re standing on the King’s Road...well, almost...what do you expect from a pdf?It does have a felt-tip pen guide to “How London Works”...a look at some people behind fashion week...up-and-coming designers from Central Saint Martin’s Class of 07...and a "What I’m loving now is..." section (a selection of which are shown below). Not too bad for a virtual freebie.

Grey remains grey when its color spectrum is inverted, and therefore has no
2008-02-11 13:00:00
As we headed out to a party the other night Mr. Heb turned to me and said, "you're very...grey this evening". I had to admit that he was onto something...there were varying shades of grey in my ensemble but, in the end when all was said and done, it was all grey. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I love my greys and blacks...but it did make me think that, before summer, I definitely need to invest in some color...even if it's only one dress that screams color to the point that your eyes bleed. Like this frill dress from Future Classics...because if you're going to do dazzling color you may as well go the whole hog and sling some flamenco-style ruffles in there as well.
More About: Color , Grey , Spectrum

Buckle Up!
2008-02-11 02:06:00
I really liked the idea...though not the price-tag...behind this Maison Martin Margiela t-shirt. Mainly because I know, when the weather gets really hot, I'll be wearing t-shirts...which can be, let's face it, a little generic. But now I'll be digging in my jewelry drawer to find the plain leather buckle bracelets I know are hiding in there somewhere and doing a little DIY.

Unchain my heart...
2008-02-10 16:11:00
I love it when something cartoon-ish is done in a luxe-ish way...like this silver heart and arrow necklace. It looks like something you would have been given in the playground...probably by the geeky kid that you didn't like, not the cool kid who ignored you during Science class.Which illustrates my long-held belief that the cool kids in High School tend to lose their lustre when they become adults...while the geeks get cooler...
More About: Heart

From Pants to Pouts in Two Easy Steps
2008-02-10 01:26:00
After an abortive attempt yesterday to find some inexpensive, casual-ish, non-generic pants for Mr. Heb...and after coming to the conclusion that American stores only offer men a choice of khakis, designer denim, or grandpa pants which create the unfortunate effect of "elephant ass"...I had to take a sanity break at C.O. Bigelow.And I'm very glad I did, as I came across this "spring lip collection" box from Prada Beauty. I've been wanting to try their Shielding Balm SPF 15/Lip/Tint for a while now but was never able to settle on a shade. Thankfully someone at Prada realized that there were other ditherers like me out there and came out with the collection box...one of each of the seven colors and an elasticated headband (I readily acknowledge that I am a sucker for a "freebie"). I gave tint #6 (soft red) a try last night and loved it...more polished than a gloss, not quite as "done" as a lipstick. Sheer heaven!
More About: Pants , Easy , Steps

It's in the genes...
2008-02-09 19:15:00
At the rate I'm going, my summer wardrobe will be 70% chambray...as the majority of items catching my eye right now are made from (you guessed it) that very fabric. First the cute, yet crisp dress from Twenty8Twelve and now this swing skirt from J Crew. Clearly, some sort of denim intervention is needed...
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Some Splendid reading for the weekend...
2008-02-09 13:36:00
From around the Splendicity community, comes this week's best in Beauty, Fashion, and Shopping.BEAUTYFrugal Faces: More on Makeup at The Space Between My Peers.Beauty Secrets Revealed loves her Homemade Apricot And Papaya Face Pack For Glowing Skin.Beauty and Fashion Tech provides skin swatches of her three favorite Stila Eyeshadows.Temptalia has a tutorial for an easy, but totally fabulous, look for Valentine's Day!Canadian Beauty is giving away a huge basket of John Frieda hair care products!Viva Woman tells you how to use your face serum with your moisturizer the correct way.Makeup and Beauty Blog has a great Shu Uemura Makeup Tutorial: Go Pastel for a Fresh Spring Eye.myBeautyMatch has discovered that La Prairie Skin Caviar Luxe Cream now comes with Swarovski Crystals!Savvy Skin discovers some new beauty products.FASHIONHer Accessories is loving the new color forecast for Fall 2008, she's found yummy accessories in some of the hottest colors.Petite Fashionista asks if you ar...
More About: Reading , Weekend

An updated classic...
2008-02-08 23:42:00
Just when I thought I'd worked through all variations of the gladiator sandal...I came across these neon pink beauties from K. Jacques St. Tropez (who've been making sandals since 1933). Sadly, these call for acres of tanned skin...not the wasteland of paleness that I could provide.
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As George W. Bush said...
2008-02-08 13:47:00
“In an economic recession, I'd rather that in order to get out of this recession, that the people be spending their money, not the government trying to figure out how to spend the people's money.”Question - What's the similarity between a Fendi dress from eLuxury and a Kenmore fridge freezer from Sears?Answer - Both are available on the layaway plan.I know this because I just received the following...Apart from the question of whether yet another way is needed to get people to spend money they don't have I see two things wrong with this idea because, by the time my 90 days are up, one of two things will have happened. One, I'll have realized that the purchase was a horrible mistake and will be regretting it...just in time to pay the bill. Or, two, I will have worn the item to death and will hate the thought of paying out cold hard cash for something "used". Either way, I feel bad.
More About: Bush , George W Bush , George W , George

I'm with the (elastic) band...
2008-02-07 20:24:00
Boring but true, unless you're a millionaire, there are always the practicalities to consider...like with these platform wrap sandals from Burberry.My practical side wonders what happens when the strap's elastic mesh loses its elasticity...as it inevitably will...My impractical side says, "Who cares?"...nothing lasts forever, so seize the day and strut your stuff...
More About: Band

A little more trembling...
2008-02-07 14:05:00
Almost as exciting as Prada's Trembled Blossoms...okay, equally as exciting (I'm shallow, I admit it)...what people wore to the showing of the animated short at Prada's flagship store in New York. I zero-ed in on these looks specifically because they basically sum up my dinner-or-low-key-party-outfit philosophy during the winter...daytime sweater plus decorative skirt...yet another facet of my fascination with all things dressy/casual I'm afraid. Equally alluring, though at either end of the spectrum...Anouck Lepère's funky Norwegian sweater and Bacofoil combo...and Vanessa Traina's classic grey sweater and pristine white bubble skirt.

There’s a faerie at the bottom of my garden…there’s a nymph in my clo
2008-02-06 19:34:00
If, like me, you liked the illustrations that Prada used in their Spring/Summer collection but thought they worked better as "Art" than clothing you may want to take a look at Trembled Blossoms on Prada’s website. A four-minute illustrated film that brings the nymphs featured on their collection to life. The music by CocoRosie is suitably ethereal yet modern and the nymph’s method for selecting an outfit is so engaging that you wish the same kind of magic were available in your closet (at least I did).
More About: Bottom

The Non-marsh Mallow
2008-02-06 13:02:00
It was nice to see some pictures from New York that finally ignited a small fire of longing inside me. Am I the only one who's been disappointed by the majority of the offerings from the NY shows thus far? It seems like next Fall will be all about the sludge...wide-legged sludge, bathrobe meets monk's habit sludge, pleated sludge...but still, essentially, sludge. I may draw comparisons between myself and a toadstool on occasion...both of us like the damp and are an acquired taste...but that doesn't mean that I necessarily want to look like I've been decomposing in a woodland glade.Which brings me back to the one show so far that had "wishlist" written all over it...Malo...because, in Winter, what could be better than to be cocooned in luxurious knitwear, armour-plated against all that nature can hurl at you...with woolly tights...and cut-out booties (okay, the last item is probably not the most practical, especially in chalky colors...but aren't they lovely)?

Hurricane Angela
2008-02-05 21:45:00
One of my favorite models...Angela Lindvall...in an ad for one of my favorite designers...Isabel Marant. Can a Tuesday get any better?Wait...yes, it could...if I could figure out how to get my hair to do that whole disheveled-yet-coiffed thing...as opposed to my normal disheveled-possibly-the-result-of-being-c aught-in-a-hurricane thing.
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Shirts versus Skins
2008-02-05 19:13:00
Another pair of "heeled wonders to admire from afar"...these elk and python shoes from Alexander McQueen. Utterly conservative...were it not for the zipper detail...
More About: Shirts , Versus , Skins

One pill makes you bigger...and one pill makes you small...
2008-02-05 13:09:00
I think I've mentioned this before but I am the Imelda Marcos of sweaters. Something that I rationalize by the fact that I grew up in a dank and dreary corner of Scotland that necessitated the wearing of sweaters for approximately 11.5 months of the year...and the habit stuck with me. So now I have an entire herd of sheep's worth of woolies...an ongoing battle with the demon moth...and a nasty habit of picking myself like a Rhesus Monkey (in private, of course) to remove the pills that have collected on whichever sweater I'm wearing that day.Hence my excitement when I came across this Sweater Stone. I've never trusted the electric pill pickers...the thought of it running amok was just too traumatizing...but a little hand-buffing could be very therapeutic.
More About: Small

Getting waisted...
2008-02-04 19:32:00
Another piece of clothing that follows my all-encompasing fashion doctrine of "dressy, yet casual"...this high-waisted skirt from Acne jeans. Essentially a "sexy secretary" pencil skirt but, with the additional of the utilitarian belt and prison cook's apron pockets, it becomes transformed into something a little bit cooler and more eccentric. It also changes it from an office-skirt-that-you-could-possibly-wear -somewhere-else to an interesting-skirt-that-you're-lucky-enoug h-to-be-able-to-wear-to-work.I know that there'll probably be some cries of "unflattering" in relation to this. I used to think that myself but now I'm a high-waisted skirt addict...more so if it has a paperbag waist, as that allows me to do either the high-waist look or the low-slung on the hips look. Which, if you think about it, is very thrifty of me...two looks for the price of one...ah, rationalisation, how I adore thee...

Lucite in the sky with diamonds
2008-02-04 13:06:00
At two dollars a piece, these vintage lucite rings are the most reasonable pieces of jewelry I've come across in ages...and some that I'll probably get the most wear out of. There are eleven colors to choose from so you can either go for single or multi-hued stacks of rings or, as I'm going to do, wear them with other rings as a slash of color next to silver or gold.
More About: Diamonds

The Leader of the Pack
2008-02-03 18:04:00
As the photographs from New York fashion week start appearing I can't say that I'm exactly blown away by anything I've seen so far...good for my credit cards, bad for the purposes of creating theoretical shopping lists.The only thing that's got an "ooh, I wouldn't mind having that" so far was this grey top from Alexander Wang's show, whose theme seemed to be *O.D.M. meets biker. Before anyone says anything...yes, it's a sweatshirt...BUT...it's a sweatshirt with a zip (probably made from some semi-luxurious fabric which will semi-justify the exorbitant price). All the difference in the world. Will I be buying Wang's? No. Will I be customizing a grey sweatshirt? Yes. Actually, I'm thinking of a summer version...somehow a grey t-shirt with a shoulder zip sounds so much cooler than a plain old t-shirt right about now...possibly with a neon yellow or cobalt blue tank peeking out from underneath.*O.D.M. = Off Duty Model
More About: Pack , The Pack , Leader , The Leader

Dress you up in my love...
2008-02-03 13:00:00
Having spent a couple of days now trolling through numerous websites I think it's safe to say that my search for summer dresses could take a while. Probably because I'm looking for something that can be worn either to work or just around town...a windy town, I might add, which negates a good chunk of the shorter dresses on offer.The one good thing about this extensive searching is that after I'd navigated all of the usual suspects I started going off on virtual tangents. Something which lead to a surprisingly good result...in the shape of this chambray dress from Twenty8Twelve...a label which, I admit, I had crossed off my mental checklist as "just another celebrity line". But this dress, and some of the other pieces on their website, have changed my mind...this is girly, yet crisp...so that, theoretically at least, however wilted I may become the dress should retain its composure.My only problem now is that any of U.S. websites that I found who stock Twenty8Twelve appear to h...
More About: Love , Dress

"Who loves you baby?" - Kojak
2008-02-02 14:46:00
This is probably the only time I'm going to advocate something heart-shaped...especially at this time of the year when my mailbox is jammed with e-mails featuring all kinds of clothing emblazoned with hearts (candy I can understand, but the sheer amount of heart clothing being peddled at the moment is frightening)...but I couldn't resist Tatty Devine's new lolly collection, which makes me think of childhood long before amore.While I love the hairband I think I'd get irritated by the number of witticisms it would cause. The necklace, on the other hand, is perfect...sweet, but not sickly.
More About: Baby

“Normal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine” - Whoopi Gol
2008-02-01 20:15:00
Sitting in my kitchen is an appliance I never use...partially because, in a household of two, I don't think it's necessary and partly, I admit, because certain things were drilled into me as a child and using this particular item would equate with lazy and would therefore cause the unwelcome "parent...revolving...in...grave" scenario. The mystery appliance is...a dishwasher.After three years of dis-use I'm pretty sure it's inoperational at this point anyway and would probably explode if it was asked to rinse as much as a spoon...and so it sits, malevolently staring at me from under the kitchen counter...jeering at me as I plunge my hands into a sinkful of suds. As you can imagine, I'm always on the lookout for things to make dish-washing slightly less of a chore (I'm not going to say enjoyable) so I was pleased to find this bunny dishrack by designer Chris Koens...putting the "awwww" (cute) into the "aw heck, I need to do the dishes".
More About: Cycle , Whoopi , Washing

Too Darned Hot
2008-02-01 14:53:00
Yesterday I mentioned my getting-equipped-for-summer-angst...a seasonal affliction that starts in Spring and builds as the temperatures rise. I am, by nationality and preference, a cold weather girl. But the locale that I currently call home veers wildly between winter wind chills in the negative twenties to summer temperatures closer to the hundred degree mark. In winter I happily frolic in sweaters and coats, hats and scarves, but as the mercury rises I find myself in a quandary...finding things to wear that work in the heat but still let me feel like myself.According to magazines, summer dressing is supposed to be a breeze (probably the same one that wafts over tropical beaches in suntan oil commercials). But, in reality, you're uncomfortably warm...sweating, even though ladies are supposed to perspire...and trying to make a mad dash for the air-conditioning only to find that, once inside, that flimsy summer dress you're wearing leaves you shivering in the arctic blast.Henc...

Jolie laide?
2008-01-31 21:28:00
I seem to be on a sandal kick at the moment but I think it's part of my getting-equipped-for-summer-angst...more on that another day when I get my thoughts in order...When I first came across Modern Vintage's gladiator sandals I couldn't decide if they were a)ugly, yet pretty and kind of cool or b)ugly, vaguely orthopedic, and 70's glam. At this point I think they're a mixture of all those things...and a little more...an odd pot-pourri of Gene Simmons, Bande à part, and 50's schoolgirl...slightly wrong and yet oddly attractive. Or jolie laide, as the French say, unconventionally attractive. But, really, who wants to be conventional?"Not I", said the fly.
More About: Jolie

Every bunny loves some bunny, sometime
2008-01-31 14:44:00
There's something so Alice in Wonderland-y creepy about this brass caged rabbit necklace...probably because the rabbit is in a birdcage...it raises so many questions.Does it have identity issues and think it's a canary?Does it belong to some eccentric...or short-sighted...old lady?Or is it just a rebellious rule breaker, determined not to be forced into the conventions of life in a hutch?
More About: Bunny